The World’s First Self-Powered Video Camera

Big Brother is watching you. And he's not likely to stop with one of these secreted behind your mirror.

While the blocky, grainy footage shown off here might pale in comparison to the pixel-filled heights of 4K, it represents a grand leap forward in the world of camera technology.

It was captured using a camera that was powered by the light of the image it was filming. Which is incredible - and gives a whole new level to the term "selfie".

Not batteries, no solar cells, no wireless charging - created by a team of computer scientists from Columbia University, New York, the camera works thanks to a clever pixel circuit. A grid of sensors collect light to build an image as usual, before then using the same system to harvest the energy of the light itself.

The result? A video of 30 x 40 pixels (HD is 1920 x 1080 pixels) with a framerate of one image per second, which - should the light level remain constant - can record video indefinitely.

The team, lead by professor Shree Nayar, have even suggested that it's possible to create further components to account for shifting light levels by reducing frame rates. You can read about the experiment in detail here - but the take away message is that some camera equipment of the future could well be battery-free.